"The proctors work so hard all year long. Then the students leave and there is a real letdown," says Mackay-Smith. "I think it's healthy and fun to look back on the year to laugh and cry about it."

"The skits make fun of the perpetual Expos lines, the food--this year that it's good, Head of the Charles weekend and intramurals," she says. Proctors are more competitive than freshmen."

Besides being happy with the specific procedures involved in advising, Mackay-Smith supports the overall existing philosophy the FDO has taken on this issue in the past decade--namely, that it is better to err on the side of too much, instead of too little advising.

Mackay-Smith concedes that possibly coddling first-years could lead to making students too dependent, which may leave them night and dry in their upperclass houses sophomore year.

However, Mackay-Smith points out, "They don't get the level of advising they received as freshmen because they aren't freshmen anymore."

Her Gain Is Their Loss

Although a maze of administration and program planning occupies most her time these days, Mackay-Smith says what she really likes to do is personally work with students who are adjusting to college life.

That was her original motivation for getting involved in the administration of Harvard first-year life. After two years of combining being a proctor and a doctoral student in health policy, Mackay-Smith in 1986 dropped her academic schedule to become a senior advisor.

"I was so interested in what was going on here and I would have had to shift my interests to those at the Health Policy and Management School," she says.

Former advisees of Mackay-Smith's are quick to attest that she is very skilled with the personal touch.

A former Mackay-Smith advisee, Darrin M. Woods '93, lauds his first-year proctor, who lived in his Lionel entry two years ago.

"She was one of the few individuals who made the transition between high school and college possible," he says. "I don't have that one-on-one advising anymore. Post-Ginger Mackay-Smith is a letdown."

Another former Lionel resident also applauds Mackay-Smith.

"She was always there," says Massimo Chioca '93. "She was on the first floor and we could always drop by. She has a lot of experience. I was hoping she would become the dean."

Rudy and the FDO